Water butts

Thank you. That is all very helpful. We will go ahead. Now expect a very wet summer obviating any need to water.

Most come with a lid now a days, so stops the problem.

There's a device you can add to a down pipe so once the button is full the water goes down the pipe rather than over filling the button.

I’ve had one for a long time it has a lid so no problems.

Not seen any midge larvae - the whole thing is enclosed with a sealed pipe coming down from the gutter.

We inherited a water butt with this house, and have never had a problem with midge larvae because it has a lid on. Sometimes, when we have a lot of rain, it fills up surprisingly quickly, so DH leaves the tap open a jot so that it can dribble into an overflow vessel. We have had midge larvae on top of that once. Ideally, we could do with two side by side and a diverter on the down pipe, but it isn’t practical for us.